Resilient Russia Dodges Calamities
Predicted After Ruble's Collapse

MOSCOW -- After months of fending off clamorous creditors, Russian business magnate Vladimir Potanin took the initiative: He flew to the French Alps and threw a big party.

The head of an embattled empire of banks, oil fields, a telephone company and other assets, Mr. Potanin booked Les Caves, a glitzy nightclub in the ski resort Courchevel, and invited more than 100 friends, mostly Russians, to a fiesta of dance and drink chaperoned...